In the States Looking Back...

I made it safely home to the States, and am reminiscing over the India I came to know.

On our last night at the Annex, a couple girls joined me in the ER to just hang out for the evening. There were rooms designating the level of attention required by each patient, and it was interesting to just walk through and read the patient reports prepared for each. Everything seemed fairly calm and under-control, so we had a chance to chat with one of the doctors, who happened to be the same one that treated the girl in our group who had heart palpitations, and he was pretty concerned about her. He was a younger doctor, so he was doing something along the lines of "residency", and as a result was never allowed to have breaks. If he wasn't "working" he was on call, and the way he described it, he had been "on duty" or "working" with no days off for 2.5 years straight. He said he was thinking about applying for a world record documentation, and it sounded like a joke, but at the same time, considering the circumstances, I kind of think he was serious.


Early the next morning, we got all packed up and drove about an hour away to the beach at Mahabalipuram, where we stayed at the Chariot Beach Resort... which was very nice! The staff were all dressed in tropical t-shirts, and greeted us on the drive way area and showered us with strings of shells and cold soda. We were brought to our rooms, which were up stairs, so I was happy they were so willing to help with my bags since I didn't have access to an elevator.
We spent the morning in the extremely large pool, which had the softest water I have ever felt. I felt like asking for the secret to their lovely pool, as I am a lifeguard and am excited to find out how to make pools so nice, but in the end they didn't really understand the question. My theory is that they have tons of jets pouring into the sides making it soft with bubbles, but that is just a thought. It was refreshingly cool, and the deepest it got was about 5.5 feet, so good for wading and floating, but also deep enough to enjoy. It was incredibly clear and clean, and an all-around relaxing situation. The first day and a half we were about the only guests, so we had all of the facilities to ourselves, and I was the only one in the huge lovely pool, several times.
Meals were very fancy, and they were very attentive to our every need, opening doors for us and serving us super quickly. I felt rich and famous. I was trying to decide if it was because it is their job (it is their job, but they seemed to go above and beyond the call of duty) or if they were bored since we were the only guests, or if they were specifically interested in us because we are mostly American girls. They were definitely excited to see us for the later reason, as they kept asking to take pictures with us on their phones, which is not part of the job description, I'm sure. Who knows.... Meals were usually buffet style with lots of labeled pots of fancy Indian cuisine, and sometimes more western influenced dishes. I usually went for the "little of everything" approach. It was a large spread of dishes though, including a separate table for a display of salads, and another for desserts. It was very tasty! We spent a portion of each day listening to our final paper presentations, and it was actually very interesting to hear what each person had learned from the trip, and find how they were all interconnected. I gave my presentation in a fancy conference hall with table cloths and things that looked something like a restaurant. Half way through, they brought in tea/coffee and sandwiches for our "tea break" which almost all Indians stick to faithfully. After presentations, we had a group meeting to de-brief on an event that happened the night before to some girls walking in a group back to Sri Ramachandra in the early night, which showed it is important to be careful and aware of one's surroundings. During the meeting, the power at the resort went out approximately 5 times, which was difficult, as it was dark out and thus could not be aided by the window, and it lasted long times each time because during a power failure, someone has to go all the way out to some separate building on the other side of the resort campus to turn the power back on. Dinner was again a nice selection of yummy Indian food, and afterward, I took a girl down to the beach who was leaving for home soon... the first to go. I had been to the beach earlier in the day, to see it, and had not come with proper foot ware so the sand would get all over my feet and burn (as it was hot) so I had to run, then throw down a towel and stand on it a while, to recover, then run again, until I finally made it. The guards, who were wearing boots, did not have that problem, and were highly amused by my crossing of the sand. The guards kind of followed me out to the water and kept a close eye on me, and warned me in broken English not to swim as it was pretty dangerous and rough. The beach itself is a steep hill, but the waves are so strong they often make it to the top. There did not seem to be much tide, as every time I visited the ocean, it was about at the same level. So, I stuck my feet in, and got a guard to take a picture of me for evidence, though it was hard to explain that I wanted a picture... he finally understood though, and it turned out fine. So... I went to the beach again after dinner with this girl, and we got to the start of the sand and were intercepted by the guards, who were confused as to what we were doing. I explained that we weren't swimming, but just wanted to look, which seemed to ease some of the tension in his face, so we kept walking, and they followed closely, but then sort of stopped us and talked in Tamil to each other, and started flashing their flashlights at each other in some kind of code, and one escorted us to the beach. He still seemed anxious for some reason, especially when we put our feet in, and I thought he thought we were swimming, so I tried to reassure him that we weren't, but he told us 5 minutes! And, like 2 minutes later he started corralling us back in. I decided it would be best not to argue, since he had a big weapon, so we left, though the ocean was beautiful and peaceful at night, and as we walked back the guard explained in broke English that there were terrorists around... and that it wasn't safe. Based on his body language, I believed him. He also demonstrated what he meant by terrorists by pretending to slice his throat and jab himself with a knife in the stomach, which did not seem safe at all. I asked the front desk people about it, since they had better English, and apparently the locals sometimes hide in bushes along the beach and jump out at people walking by and rob or kill them, and apparently there has been trouble with both foreign visitors and Indian visitors, so the resort policy is simply to not allow visitors out on the beach at night. I appreciated their concern for our well being. The guards seemed very nice, and very attentive!

The next morning a group of us woke up early to see the sunrise over the ocean, and we beat it by a few minutes so we were able to see the bright orange ball quickly rising. It was very beautiful, and as we were at the ocean there was not as much haze, which made it feel a lot hotter, and make us more prone to sunburn, but also let us enjoy the sun rising. The guards were still up and about at their little post, and were watching us closely, but didn't hinder us at all. Throughout the morning we did our final paper presentations, and this time they were by the pool, so the presenter sat in a chair by the pool while everyone else lounged in the shade or relaxed in the pool. The staff brought out a fancy long table to our area and served us tea and cookies and sandwiches, so we had our coffee at the pool side. It was amazing. In the afternoon, after lunch, we went down to the beach again and went swimming. As the only lifeguard in the group, I made sure everyone stayed close enough to shore to be safe, as the waves were strong, and often went over our heads, and knocked us over backwards easily, while the current as the waves flowed back had a strong suction. It was fine, but aggressive, and not a good spot for a weak swimmer. The guards did not stop us, but watched us closely. The manager also cautioned us a couple of times from the resort, so we were well informed of the danger, and the resort was by no means going to be responsible for our deaths. A little later, some buses were ordered for us to shop or sight see, so I got on the sight seeing bus, and we went to a "temple" that was built around a cave where a tiger used to sleep, and saw another temple which I believe, based on my rough interpretation of the thickly Tamil based English our driver had, that the recent Tsunami a few years ago had uncovered. Then, we went to a place called butter ball rock, which is a huge round boulder sitting on a hill that looks like it will roll down, but apparently it got hit by the Tsunami, and is still there, so it must be solid. The butter ball park is very large, and people were everywhere hoping to sell their services as a guide, or advertise their stone creations, (it was a major marble stonework area, and we saw the shops everywhere, and stone images of the gods seemed to be the most popular product), or attempt to practice their English with us. There were a bunch of goats wandering around, and some monkeys. We hiked up the park/hill surrounding butterball and saw a bunch of temple/worship areas carved into the hills, and some appeared to be very old. The goats were really cute and funny, and one tried to climb a tree to get at the high up leaves, even though there were plenty lower down. It must have been a picky goat. A little later on we went by the light house that we can see from the beach at the resort, and there was a great view of the ocean and the surrounding area. When we made it through the park, we found the road, but didn't know where our driver was, who said he would park at the parking lot. We had no idea where that was, so tried to ask around but were not able to communicate effectively with the largely Tamil speaking population. So, we started walking back to the entrance along the road, and a car full of boys drove by and slowed down to a crawl to stare at us, so we shooed them along, and we thought we were done with them until we turned the corner and found they had halted the car in the middle of the road and got out to get a better look. Some of the girls picked up stones for protection, but I just ignored them and kept going, and nothing happened. I think these people are generally just blatantly curious about these crazy foreign people, as even in tourist locations there are not very many white travelers, and it would be a curious sight. Even in Seattle, where everyone comes from everywhere, some cultures represented are very curious and people stop to look. So, I felt it was good to be careful, but generally these people seemed more curious than hostile. We finally found the driver who was parked along the road, not in a traditional parking lot, and we went to the Shore Temple, which is a World Heritage site. It kind of reminded me of the communities at Chaco Canyon, and I wished I knew more of the history, since it is super old and probably from one of the early Indian civilizations. Most of the explanations were in Tamil, and we didn't nab a guide for the trip. We ran into the shopping group there, so I joined them, and we went through a couple of shops and I bartered with a few of the aggressive sales people outside the Temple area, and ended up at a little craft market where we worked with a friend of our driver to secure most of our last minute purchases. He was fun and chatty, and aggressive, but would eventually understand if you didn't want something. When we got back, some people were getting ready to catch buses to go back to Chennai and fly home, which was sad. Right before dinner, another girl and I noticed a new family in the resort who was speaking French, so we introduced ourselves and tried to learn about them. I was surprised by how much of my high school French came back to me, and the other girl, who had studied more recently was able to fill in the gaps I forgot. It was maybe the highlight of my stay at the resort, besides swimming in the Indian ocean. They were from Paris, on a tour, so were with 15 French people staying at the resort, and the airline had lost their luggage. They told us about Pairs, and the Louvre, and their trip in India, and some of their history, and names. They were very kind and understanding and spoke in slow easy sentences for us. Another lady from their trip joined us, who could speak a little English and helped us convey more complicated ideas, but mostly spoke French. She was a nurse working just outside of Paris, so we told her (mostly in French) about our stay in India. It was so nice.
Throughout the night, various groups left for Chennai, and I was about the last to leave the next day, so I spent the morning swimming in the Indian ocean and pool. I wasn't planning to be in the ocean, just to look and say farewell, but I met a lady from Russia who was swimming by herself and begged me to swim with her so the guards would not be watching her so attentively, so we swam a bit, and she was glad to meet someone who shared her love for the ocean. She was chatty and fun, and was apparently spending a few days at the resort as her holiday from work. It seemed like an expensive holiday, but a good one! I got cleaned up and packed up, and then discovered that we were delayed in leaving for Chennai because political unrest had caused our road to close (I think a statue got knocked down somewhere) so we had tea and sandwiches, and when the drivers finally arrived we took the back roads to Chennai. One of the girls with us still was very sick, and was suspected to have both Dengue and Typhoid fever at the same time, so there was a big struggle to get her flights changed and her mom's flight changed (her mom was one of the teachers) so we went to a mall in Chennai where the travel agent was for a few hours and had dinner and went shopping one last time, while we left our stuff in a hotel room at the Trident hotel, since one girl was leaving the next day and thus staying the night. Finally, it was time to leave for the airport, and it took us a while to figure out how to work the airport system, as it was very different from what we were used to, and my travel partner was feeling ill, so I was mostly in charge of figuring out our next steps. We kind of got forgotten at the check in counter, as they wouldn't give my partner her boarding passes until she paid her overweight luggage fee, but forgot to have her pay for it, so we were awkwardly standing around waiting. Finally, I decided we were forgotten, so I asked someone for assistance, and then they realized we were forgotten and took her money, but had to go across the airport to process it, so we kept waiting. I was glad we got there early. We went through exit customs, and security (which was pretty intense, where army people in camouflage patted us down with their guns slung over their shoulders) and at last made it to the waiting area. However, we didn't know our gate, and our flight was the only one without a published gate, so we were nervous we would not make our flight. At boarding time, it was finally posted, and we got on, but it was a little scary for a little while. Tons of security later, we made it on the flight, and were on our way home. I sat by a Chennai lady on her way to visit America (New York) for the first time, and I knew she would be in for a culture shock. I watched some Tamil movies and ate Indian food for the last time, and tried to sleep and get over my cough. In Brussels, I bought some chocolate and waffles with my Euros, and figured out how to get our new American Airline boarding passes, and soon we were off to Chicago. I slept most of the time, and didn't have a seat buddy so I had more room to stretch out. Then, in Chicago we re-checked our luggage, and made it through customs, and figured out how to navigate the airport, and re-checked in, and soon were on our way home! I sat near a lady off to Alaska who had never been to Seattle before and apparently it seemed kind of like a different culture, as she was from Michigan. She was nervous. Finally, we landed, and I was home, in the night of Seattle, where the weather is much cooler than I was used to. So, I made it there and back again.

If I have time, I may do one more post to expand on the culture differences I have found, especially since coming back... so possibly stay tuned. :) That being said, however, you could spend a lifetime in India and still have much to learn!